Crackdown on Napster = problem for democracy?

from the let's-not-worship-"IP" dept.
A really long article in The Atlantic thoroughly explains the Internet vs copyright issue, quoting Lawrence Lessig, a former Harvard Law professor now at Stanford: By granting a temporary monopoly on distribution to creators, the Founders hoped to stimulate the creation of new ideas. "The creator was rewarded for a little while, but then the idea passed into the commons, where people could do what they liked with it," Lessig says. Now, he says, the campaign against piracy is pushing toward "a massive increase in regulation over the distribution of culture, which is inconsistent with the conception of the commons that lies at the root of democracy." In the American tradition artists, writers, musicians, and audiences work together, creating the intellectual ferment that has helped this country adapt to change for more than two centuries. "People hear the cries of the industry about piracy, which are real and justifiable," Lessig says. "But they don't realize that simply giving the industry what it wants will have an impact on the entire public sphere." Thanks to slashdot for the pointer.